The 5 million DA ceiling for auto-entrepreneurs: what happens if you go over it?

The auto-entrepreneur status ceiling is 5,000,000 DA of turnover a year. Going over it in one year does not strip you of the status automatically: it is exceeding it three years in a row that leads to removal from the register, or to the duty to register in the commercial register if you want to continue. What the texts we read do not say is what happens in the very year you cross 5 million.

What the texts say

Law 22-23 defines an auto-entrepreneur as an individual whose annual turnover does not exceed a threshold set by legislation, and the DGI puts that threshold at 5,000,000 DA (article 282 ter of the direct taxes code, article 51 of the 2023 Finance Law). Article 14 of the law provides for removal after exceeding it three years in a row. The DGI says the same thing differently: an auto-entrepreneur who exceeds 5,000,000 DA three years in a row must register in the commercial register to carry on, and then falls under the appropriate tax regime.

The 8,000,000 DA you see in other guides is the threshold of the general IFU regime, not yours. Another trap: the DGI can denounce the application of IFU if a check adjusts your turnover above the threshold, and move you to the real or simplified regime.

What it means when you are paid in foreign currency

A freelancer paid in foreign currency is the first concerned, because the exchange rate decides everything. Take a developer invoicing 2,000 euros a month, 24,000 euros a year. At 150 DA to the euro that is 3,600,000 DA, well under the ceiling. At 250 DA to the euro it is 6,000,000 DA, over it. Those two rates are chosen only to show the gap; they are not quotes. No text we read says which rate (official, on the invoice date, on the day you are paid) converts your turnover.

Tracking the ceiling without stress

To stay under 5 million over a calendar year you can average at most 416,666 DA a month. The site’s ceiling tracker adds up your invoices, converts currencies with the rate you enter and warns you before the threshold. It does not replace the official declaration.

What is not settled

Four questions have no written answer in what we read. What happens to the IFU on the part above 5 million in the first year? Does the ceiling cover all your activities if you have several in the same domain? Does micro-import turnover count, given that its IFU is paid at customs? And is the ceiling measured on invoice or on payment?

For payment details, see the IFU and CASNOS guide and the filing calendar.